2 O.C. Men Sent to Prison for Bilking Seniors
SANTA ANA — Two Orange County men have been sentenced to federal prison for operating fraudulent prize-promotion schemes that targeted elderly victims.
Jeffrey Meyer, 29, of Rancho Santa Margarita, was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison. He pleaded guilty three months ago to two counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud.
Meyer also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler in Santa Ana to pay $143,625 in restitution for telemarketing frauds he concocted under the names of Express Systems, Omega Systems, Pacific International, Lincoln International and Colonial Pacific.
Meyer called elderly victims and falsely told them that they had won a large cash prize but needed to pay certain fees or taxes--often as high as $7,500--to collect. One victim paid a total of $100,000. No prizes were ever awarded.
He bilked 12 senior citizens out of more than $140,000, said Assistant U.S. Atty. S. Robert Raskin Jr.
In the second case, James Peck, 30, of Placentia, was sentenced Dec. 8 to one year in prison. U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor in Santa Ana also ordered him to pay $48,909 in restitution.
Peck pleaded guilty in September to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud in operating his Southwest Collectibles telemarketing scam, similar to Meyer’s. Peck defrauded 50 senior citizens out of more than $48,000, Raskin said.
The cases were among the first brought by the County of Orange Boiler Room Apprehension task force, a federal, state and county effort to combat telemarketing schemes that defraud the elderly. Since the task force was formed last January, it has shut down 11 suspected illegal operations and seized more than $340,000.
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